[The sclerodermic myocardiopathies].

Sclerodermic cardiomyopathy is the commonest cardiac lesion in this collagen disorder. The picture is a common-place one of left ventricular failure with moderate cardiomegaly (unless there is an associated chronic pericardial effusion). There are no characteristic features on the ECG. The prognosis is particularly poor, with death within one or two years. Clinical presentation of the cardiomyopathy may be preceded by isolated ECG changes occuring over one or two years. The myocardial disorder, which is often associated with latent pericardial and endocardial lesions, is peculiar to scleroderma out of all the collagen disorders, but presents no difficulty in differential diagnosis because of the other features of the disease of which it is a part.